{"id":98681,"date":"2020-02-04T17:49:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T00:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98681"},"modified":"2020-02-04T17:49:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T00:49:54","slug":"raising-sri-lankas-firm-energy-capacity-rapidly-and-cheaply-by-20-30-without-coal-lng-solar-or-wind-or-biomass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/04\/raising-sri-lankas-firm-energy-capacity-rapidly-and-cheaply-by-20-30-without-coal-lng-solar-or-wind-or-biomass\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising Sri Lanka’s firm energy capacity rapidly and cheaply by 20-30% without coal, LNG, solar or wind or biomass!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Prof. Chandre Dharmawardana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Mr. G. A. D Sirimal (GADS)\u00a0\u00a0 has lobbied consistently for\u00a0 a\u00a0 continuation of the\u00a0 traditional and well-tested energy plans of earlier decades\u00a0 in his writings\u00a0 to the Island newspaper, and calling for the further expansion of coal-burning power plants, even though\u00a0 the Norochchollai power plant is limping between shut downs and choking in its own spit. In an Island\u00a0 article (1st February) GADS elatedly clutches\u00a0 at straws and refers to\u00a0 Dr. Kamal Wickremasinghe (KM) who\u00a0 using very qualified arguments on environmental aspects\u201d, is said to have argued\u00a0 for coal.\u00a0 I had missed this article (29 January, Island), but\u00a0 returned to it after reading GADS, only to be very disappointed.\u00a0 \u00a0

KW ‘s key thesis is simple and patently false. He says:

The decision to expand the Norochcholai facility is a rational and safe decision because the hysterical demands against it, \u2026\u00a0 are based on \u2026 unscientific theory of global warming and …. The … policy prescriptions of the elites .. ignore increased energy \u2026\u00a0 for economic development of the poor\u201d.

So,\u00a0 it is alleged that the opposition to coal is based on the unscientific theory of global warming?\u00a0 KS, a\u00a0 retired\u00a0 Australia administrator is in full resonance with his prime minister! However, the case against coal\u00a0 (e.g., presented in my articles in the Island newspaper)\u00a0 is\u00a0 based purely on economics.\u00a0 Coal is more costly, and takes longer to set up than the available options discussed below. The negative effects of green-house gases from coal plants, or the danger\u00a0 to\u00a0 human health, are unnecessary in deciding to reject coal. \u00a0

Electricity from coal, oil or gas requires much infrastructure and\u00a0 long term import contracts\u00a0 signed at today’s prices. Such projects are also loved by politicians and their business friends because they are a great source of fat commissions. So it is an irony of history\u00a0 that\u00a0 the place name Norochchollai\u201d\u00a0 is derived from the old sinhala name \u2013 Horagolla\u201d. It was surely the manipulations of the hora\u201d politicians in and out of power that led to the sordid saga of coal power contracts that were canceled and re-issued to fit other pockets, and not due to hysterical\u201d environmentalists.

KW and GADS should ask how much does a\u00a0 100 MW coal plant cost?, how long does it take to set it up, and what are its annual operational costs, even without including the collateral costs of\u00a0 ill-health within its wind zone and costs of getting rid of flue ash and pollution?\u00a0 Then KW and GADS should ask, what are the alternatives\u00a0 available to produce power\u00a0 more cheaply, more safely, and with shorter installation times. The writings of GADS and KS show that in their view, there is no other alternative.

In fact there is an alternative, especially in the context of Sri Lanka.

Unlike most countries, Sri Lanka has an abundance of water and many\u00a0\u00a0 reservoirs coupled to electric turbines.\u00a0\u00a0 There are in fact some 33 major\u00a0 hydro-electric plants and numerous mini-hydroplants; the latter can be ignored\u00a0 in this discussion, except to say that mini-hydro plants can be extremely damaging to the environment per KW of energy generated. The major hydro plants produce almost 50%\u00a0 of Sri Lanka’s power capacity. During the peak rain season, when the reservoirs are full, they can supply up to 70% of Sri Lanka’s needs. However, on the average, the reservoirs are full up to about 40%, and deliver only about 20% of the power needs of the country.

There are two very simple and inexpensive means of raising the hydro-capacity of the reservoirs without having to build any new reservoirs, or resorting to any advanced technologies.\u00a0 The first of these is to prevent the evaporation of water from reservoirs. The evaporation loss occurs day and night (due to wind) and depends on the water surface area and reservoir heat capacity (use Penman’s equation). If the reservoir surface is covered to prevent evaporation, the saved water may be as much as 50%\u00a0 according to some Australian studies. In Sri Lanka, one may estimate that on the average we can easily and cheaply\u00a0 increase the hydro-electricity power output by 25-30% simply by covering the more wind-swept surface areas of the\u00a0 33 major reservoirs. A further increase of up to 10 % is possible by carrying out scheduled de-silting of the major reservoirs that are actually in neglect!

So we already have enough FIRM POWER to meet even the peak demand by raising the hydro-power capacity by some 20-30%.. If GDAS and KW disagree, they can do their own calculation and make more conservative estimates and admit that we can indeed\u00a0 increase capacity by 20% by wind-shielding and de-silting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding in solar energy sources.<\/strong>
\nSo far we have not called for solar energy, wind or biomass energy. We have\nonly considered the exploitation of existing hydropower facilities in an\nefficient manner.
\n
\nLet us just consider how to efficiently include solar energy.
\n
\nInstead of covering the water surface with mere wind-shielding floats, we can\ncover the surface with  floating arrays of solar panels. Then the floats\nnot only save water by wind shielding, but also generate electricity during the\nday. If that electricity had not been produced, a certain  amount of water\nwould have been sent down into the turbine to generate that electricity. So,\ninstead of sending that water down, SAVE the water and use the solar\nelectricity during the day. This is equivalent to having stored  the solar\nelectricity as head water in the reservoir to be used later – without using any\nstorage batteries! <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\nThe solar arrays cut sunlight and reduce the growth of algae and prevent the\ngrowth of aquatic weeds like water hyacinth (Japan Jabara\u201d) that asphyxiate\nthe water. The net environmental impact  of  floating solar arrays\nturns out to be  beneficial!
\n
\nHow much solar electricity can we get from solar arrays? Ten  sq. meters\nof common solar panel can produce about 1KW of power. But the solar conversion\nefficiency is increasing daily, and  the cost of panels (now at Rs 50 per\nWatt) is dropping rapidly, unlike in June 2009 when I proposed floating solar\npanels to officials in a talk at the residential secretariat. However, most\ntrained professionals  resist thinking  outside  their work manual,\nand we have writers like Kamal Wickremasinghe who use  a rogue form of\nMarxism to support the most reactionary of energy policies. The same Kamal W\nwho is now supporting coal based power  came out against the use of\nglyphosate, championing environmental causes\u201d,  even though not even\nsignificant parts per billion of  free glyphosate has been detected in Sri\nLanka’s paddy fields.
\n
\nKM and  GADS  believe that coal is the cheapest means of producing\nthe needed amount of firm power for Sri Lanka. This is barely true for stereotyped  \nturn-key\u201d  dirty-coal plants  from many  engineering companies.\nThe proposed clean-coal\u201d plants are very expensive and NOT turn-key. Even the\nstandard coal plants  take 8  to 10 years to be operational. Constant\ndeliveries of coal are needed.  Maintenance is costly and the\ndeterioration of the plant is high. Insurance costs as well as waste flue ash\nbegin to pile up high. The poor people within 50km of the plant begin to get\nasthma and lung diseases. Their incapacity for work, absentee rate etc., \nbegin to increase dramatically. The flora and fauna in the affected\narea   become stilted and diseased.
\n
\nAll this has nothing to do with global warming, but are a direct result\nof  acid fumes, sub-micron particulate dust etc.  generated from\nburning coal. KS  pins hope on pie-in-the sky clean-coal. It is most\nlikely that the  people affected by future coal plants  will be \nthe poor that KW attempts to champion, while those who collected the\ncommissions, or  the tradition-bound engineers and  risk-averse\nbusinessmen will have their air-conditioned houses to live in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[A slightly different version of\nthis article appeared in the Island, 4-Feb-2020.]

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Prof. Chandre Dharmawardana Mr. G. A. D Sirimal (GADS)\u00a0\u00a0 has lobbied consistently for\u00a0 a\u00a0 continuation of the\u00a0 traditional and well-tested energy plans of earlier decades\u00a0 in his writings\u00a0 to the Island newspaper, and calling for the further expansion of coal-burning power plants, even though\u00a0 the Norochchollai power plant is limping between shut downs and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chandre-dharmawardana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}